The Backstory, Part 2: Our Dorky Quest to Make Time

Jake’s distraction-free iPhone was a bit extreme, and I admit I didn’t try it right away. But
once I did, I loved it. So the two of us began searching for other redesigns—ways to switch
our default setting from “distracted” to “focused.” I started reading the news only once a
week and reprogrammed my sleep schedule to become a morning person. I experimented
with eating six small meals a day and then tried eating just two large ones. I adopted
different exercise regimens, from distance running to yoga classes to daily push-ups. I even
persuaded my programmer friends to build me customized to-do-list apps. Meanwhile, Jake
spent a full year tracking his daily energy levels in a spreadsheet, trying to understand
whether he should drink coffee or green tea, whether he should exercise in the morning or
the evening, and even whether he liked being around people (the answer: yes…mostly). We
learned a lot from this obsessive behavior, but we were interested in more than just what
worked for us; we still believed in the idea of a system that anyone could tailor to their own
life. To find it, we’d need some human test subjects besides ourselves, and as luck would
have it, we had the perfect laboratory. While working at Google, Jake created something he
called a “design sprint”: basically a workweek redesigned from the ground up. For five days,
a team would cancel all meetings and focus on solving a single problem, following a specific
checklist of activities. It was our first effort at designing time rather than products, and it
worked—the design sprint quickly spread across Google. In 2012, we started working
together to run design sprints with startups in the Google Ventures portfolio. Over the next
few years, we ran more than 150 of these five-day sprints. Nearly a thousand people
participated: programmers, nutritionists, CEOs, baristas, farmers, and more. For a couple of
Time Dorks, the whole thing was an amazing opportunity. We had the chance to redesign
the workweek and learn from hundreds of high-performing teams at startups including
Slack, Uber, and 23andMe. Many of the principles behind Make Time were inspired by what
we discovered in those sprints.

Four Lessons from the Design Sprint Laboratory.

The first thing we learned was that something magic happens when you start the day with
one high-priority goal. Each sprint day, we drew attention to one big focal point: On
Monday, the team creates a map of the problem; on Tuesday, each person sketches one
solution; on Wednesday, they decide which solutions are best; on Thursday, they build a
prototype; and on Friday, they test it. Each day’s goal is ambitious, but it’s just one thing.
This focal point creates clarity and motivation. When you have one ambitious but achievable
goal, at the end of the day, you’re done. You can check it off, let go of work, and go home
satisfied. Another lesson from our design sprints was that we got more done when we
banned devices. Since we set the rules, we were able to prohibit laptops and smartphones,
and the difference was phenomenal. Without the constant lure of email and other Infinity
Pools, people brought their complete attention to the task at hand, and the default switched
to focus. We also learned about the importance of energy for focused work and clear
thinking. When we first started running design sprints, teams worked long hours, fueled by
sugary treats. Late in the week, energy would plummet. So we made adjustments, and saw
how things like a healthy lunch, a quick walk, frequent breaks, and a slightly shorter
workday helped maintain peak energy, resulting in better and more effective work. Lastly,
these experiments taught us the power of, well, experiments. Experimenting allowed us to
improve the process, and seeing the results of our changes firsthand gave us a deep
confidence that we never could have built just by reading about someone else’s results. Our
sprints required a whole team and a whole week, but we could see right away that there
was no reason individuals couldn’t redesign their days in a similar way. The lessons we
learned became the foundation for Make Time. Of course, it wasn’t a yellow brick road to
perfection. We still got swept up in the Busy Bandwagon and sucked into the Infinity Pools
of distraction now and again. Although some of our tactics turned into habits, others
sputtered and failed. But taking stock of our results each day helped us understand why we
tripped up. And this experimental approach also allowed us to be kinder to ourselves when
we made mistakes—after all, every mistake was just a data point, and we could always try
again tomorrow. Despite our stumbles, Make Time was resilient. We found ourselves with
more energy and headspace than we’d ever had, and we were able to take on bigger
projects: the kinds of “someday” things we’d never been able to get around to before.